Soldier of Fortune
by A Subtle Wind
Summary: Ginny becomes a mercenary after her entire family is killed. After 5 years as a contract killer, will her hope in the Light be rekindled by a certain blonde? Post Hog
1. Prologue

Complete Summary

After her entire family is killed, Ginny no longer has a reason to live. Her faith in the Light has been extinguished, and she no longer cares who wins. She takes a break from the wizarding world, only to return several years later secretly as a mercenary. How will she react when she realizes how much people have changed, especially a certain blonde one, and can her hope ever be rekindled? Post Hogwarts

Prologue

"How could you! How could you?" a confused 20-year old Ginevra Molly Weasley ranted at Dumbledore, the Headmaster of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry and head of the Order of the Phoenix.

The petite red head screamed at the old man. He was sitting behind his desk piled high with odds-and-ends as the 21-year old Boy-Who-Lived sat in a corner, just staring at nothing.

"I didn't let them do it," the wrinkled man said somberly, the twinkle in his eye gone. "They all knew the danger going in to this mission. They died for the cause."

Ginny gave a disgusted snort as she plopped down into her chair. "Of course. It's always for the cause," She mimicked, slouching and on the verge of hysterics.

Suddenly snapping out of his stupor, Harry Potter said, "Ron was my best friend. Ginny—"

She turned hurt eyes onto her once-savior. "And you! You were there! How could you just watch as my entire family was torn off the face of the Earth?" Tears streamed down her freckled face.

"It was our mission," Harry whispered, his own tears falling as well.

Screaming in frustration, she hurled herself at him, only to find that Dumbledore had magically secured her to her chair in a moment of foresight. She fought strenuously against the charmed bindings, screaming and sobbing, but to no avail.

"Let me go, dammit! I'll kill you! I'll kill you!"

"Let me GO!"

At last she sat, quiet, tears gone, face sober and somber.

Dumbledore released the charm. "Miss Weasley, I truly am sorry that your family is dead. But you still have us; your friends, the Order."

As his words registered in her mind, her visage visibly darkened. She stood swiftly.

"You're wrong," she said quietly and slowly.

"Goodbye." She all but whispered.

With a swish and whirl, she was gone, lost to the wizarding world for quite some time.

One night, five years later, a grim, red haired, freckled woman sat on top of a building, watching a darkened parking lot in some foreign country. She thought distantly of the ridiculous amount of money she was getting paid to do such a simple job. A job she would probably do for free. Hell, even an amateur could have pulled this one off.

She pulled her black beanie tighter over her hair, watching as her breath steamed in front of her. A metal contraption next to her gleamed in the moonlight.

Finally, there was movement below. Two automobiles pulled up, a fair distance apart. Two men got out of one, three out of the other. One of the five was had a suitcase chained to a wrist.

That was her guy.

The two groups started walking toward each other, but neither ever quite made it.

One little squeeze, and another life was swept off the Earth. It's ridiculous, how easy it was.

Ginny was already packing her equipment up by the time the she heard the others' surprised commotion, and well on her way down the road by the time the sorry soul's companions could get two thoughts together to try to save him. The people they were meeting peeled out of the parking lot, business unfinished.

But she knew their efforts were useless. She had a dead aim.

Literally.

She drove along in her car, windows rolled down, beanie discarded, and let the freezing wind thrust through her hair. She expertly maneuvered the small car around corners, down streets, and between other cars, eventually arriving at one of her many small flats.

She opened the door and walked into the luxurious lobby of the complex.

People paid good money for the kind of work she did. Enough money for her to live comfortably in several countries at once and buy multiple airplane tickets at the drop of a hat. Even though she didn't need to with knowing how to apparate. But some clients liked to meet her at the gate.

One of her endearing qualities was the way she looked. She didn't look like the hardened killer she was, like most people picture mercenaries. Looking at her reflection in the mirror opposite the elevators, she observed the short, curly red hair and the freckles, the warm eyes, the petite frame, and the overall look that screamed innocence. And her name. Ginny.

Well, you know what they say. Appearances can be misleading.

The elevator dinged open, and she stepped in, punching the number of her floor. She got out her key as she approached her floor, and walked down the hallway to her apartment at the end of the hall playing with it. As she rounded a corner near her front door, she got a funny feeling.

The light next to her corner apartment was flashing, blinking on and off. It gave a spooky appearance that made Ginny's spine tingle.

She shook off the feeling, chalking it up to left over adrenaline.

She pushed the key in the lock and turned it, hearing the metal grate against itself. Ginny sighed as she walked in to the dark apartment and closed the door. She walked down the hallway and stopped short in the doorway to the living room.

Her breathing became shallow, and she could feel the blood rushing in her ears. She froze in surprise, not thinking to draw her gun or wand.

Sitting in front of a roaring fire, in _her_ apartment, was someone she expected to never meet again. Someone she thought would be long dead, or at least imprisoned.

Sitting in front of a roaring fire was Draco Malfoy.

Shit.

A/N

Anyone else worried about my sanity?


	2. Chapter One

* * *

Chapter One 

Draco Malfoy. In Ginny's apartment. Just sitting there, starring at her with flinty eyes, fiddling with a lock of the platinum hair.

After an eternity she breathed, "How did you get in here?"

He smirked. How perfectly fitting.

"You forgot to put out the fire before you left, and I knew where to look for you. I flooed," he said disdainfully, throwing the long hair over his shoulder.

"Why didn't you just apparate?" Her face hardened. "Never mind. Why were you looking for me?"

"Right to business, then. I have a proposition for you."

He waited to see her reaction, which she carefully kept hidden behind a guarded face.

"I work for a covert division of the Order of the Phoenix. Not many people know about us, and the people who do wish they didn't. We do the dirty work that the goody-two-shoes can't handle. As good-hearted as the Order is, they can't accomplish _all_ of their goals through charity work. This secret branch has no real name. The few people who do realize there is a shadow behind the light simple refer to us as Spooks."

"This has all been very interesting. You working for the Light. Care to get to the point?" Ginny snapped, settling down onto her couch.

Again with the smirk. "I want you to work for me. Or rather, with me. My boss thinks I need a partner to balance me out, and sent me after you. He said if I was really as good of a Spook as I was rumored to be, I could find the elusive Ginevra Weasley all by myself without any leads and request her work."

"Thanks, but I'm through with the hole 'let's save the world' thing," she said, once again standing. "Now, if you wouldn't mind going away?" She motioned to the door.

"Being a clandestine part of a very prestigious group, we are paid _very_ well to keep our mouths shut." He mentioned a number. A number Ginny had to work hard not to whistle at. She had been paid more, but not much.

However, she was not able to keep the surprise, and then suspicion, off her face. "Who pays us and how did they get so much money?"

Draco expertly dodged the question. "You'll come then? I'll warn you, there is a very vigorous ability-testing and intelligence program. Everyone who comes in has to be already trained so that we aren't wasting time. And they test to see if you will be loyal. Can't have any moles sneaking in."

Ginny sighed. "I'm a mercenary, Malfoy. I'll be loyal unless someone else offers me more money. I don't care about this fight anymore." She shivered in her black turtleneck, and folded her arms. "Does Dumbledore head it?"

Malfoy gave an empty grin. "No. He is aware that we are out there somewhere and often gives the Director tip-offs through a contact. But the whole dirty work thing is too much for the righteous old coot."

She frowned, thinking. Finally, she nodded. "I'll do it."

"Great." He said, and before she could ask 'what next,' he was standing beside her and had a hold on her upper arm. Then he had apparated her away, she presumed to the Spooks' headquarters.

* * *

When the world righted itself again, Ginny found herself standing in an ordinary lobby.

"I could have appartated myself. I assume this is the place?" she asked the blonde man next to her.

"How did you _ever_ guess," he said sarcastically.

It was…just a lobby. It could have been any non-descript lobby. The tiled floor was an off-white color with brown flecks. There were little lanterns all along the off-white walls that gave the room enough light to make the room blaze. The lanterns were like miniscule fires contained in glass bulbs sitting in bronze sconces. The desk off to one side was some medium colored wood.

"Follow me," Draco said, heading down one of many hallways.

As she walked beside him, Draco studied her out of the corner of his eye. The freckles and vibrant hair were the same as he remembered them. She was still almost a foot shorter than him.

But the eyes were different.

He had heard about what had happened to her family, and heard how she had reacted to it. Completely shunned the wizarding world, shut out her old life.

She strode confidently enough, but he still saw it in her eyes. Her family's death had killed something in her also. She couldn't get around their deaths, and so couldn't be completely whole. He saw it there- no closure. Couldn't be good for her sanity.

He turned his attention back to the hallway, stopping at a door near the other end. On it was a brass plaque with the word 'Director' etched into it. He gave two smart knocks to the door and then opened it without waiting for a response.

* * *

Ginny once again sat in the Director's office, how many hours later from the first time she didn't know. She was wet, tired, and really hungry.

"Well, it looks like you passed all of the 'qualification exams,' as we like to call them," the Director sat behind his sturdy desk. He had brown hair, brown eyes, and was of a medium height. Nothing extraordinary, just like the building. Ginny didn't understand how someone so boring-looking could become the director of such a supposedly deadly organization.

"Let's set some ground rules, then," he began.

"Um, excuse me, sir, but could I know your name?" Ginny interrupted.

The ordinary man gave a surprisingly empty smile. "That would be the first rule. No names. You will only refer to me as the Director, inside or outside of this building. When talking to Agent 02-23 here," he motioned to Draco, "inside the building you refer to him as that. Talking on the street, however, you may call him by his name. This is to insure that any eavesdroppers will not learn the names of our agents. You are Agent 07-16. Remember it."

Ginny nodded. The whole number thing made sense. She slid her gaze to Malfoy who was slumped in a chair beside hers intently watching the conversation like a tennis match.

"As for your rank, usually new recruits are put under a senior agent and then are gradually given harder missions. But, being who you are, what you are capable of, and what you have already done, I am skipping that and partnering you with Agent 02-23, who also happens to be one of my best agents."

Ginny turned surprised eyes on Draco's intense ones. He slowly lifted a pristine eyebrow. How stereotypical.

Again the Director spoke. "From now on, you two will be a pair, all the way down to living with each other. That won't be a problem, will it? I have heard stories about you two's reputation."

"I have an extra bedroom in my apartment," Draco spoke for the first time.

Nobody commented on the 'reputation' part.

After a short pause where the Director waited for Ginny to nod, he continued. "That brings me to my last point. First, Agent 07-16, you have to sign these forms."

He gave a swish of his wand and a stack of papers appeared on his tidy desk.

Ginny read carefully through each one, from the health form to the salary, signing each one. The only form she hesitated on was the last one, the loyalty form.

Her quill hovered over the parchment as she read and re-read the script. This was it. If she signed it, she would officially be part of the wizarding world again. What's more, she would be on the Light side. Ginny didn't know if she could do it, stand it. _They had killed her family._

She let out a puff of air in deep concentration, not realizing the two men in the room were carefully watching her with bated breath.

Ginny gave one last look to what her salary would be, and signed the loyalty form. They were offering her more money than what Draco had mentioned, than what she had _ever_ been offered, and that's saying something.

She laid down the quill and pushed the pile of papers back to the Director.

"Excellent," he said. "Lastly, the Crest. Sorry to be stereotypical, but it's exactly like the Dark Mark. It's burnt into your skin on the right hip and very small, much more inconspicuous than the Mark. But it works the same way. When we need you, it'll let you know."

Ginny sighed. "Great."

Then she gave a gigantic yawn. "Sorry. It's been a long night."

The Director gave one of his empty smiles again. "Well, if you two will follow me, we can go ahead and give you the Crest. Then I suggest you two head on home. Who knows when you'll get your next assignment."

"And he means that," Draco murmured to Ginny as he followed her out of the Director's office. She, in turn, was following the Director.

"Where are going, anyways?" she whispered back suspiciously. "You know, I'm doing an awful lot of this on good faith that you're all just not psychos."

"The Director has other things to do than brand everyone," he said in a flat voice.

"Do you have the Crest?"

"Yes," he replied. Then smirked suddenly. "Want to see?"

Ginny shot him a withering glare without answering. Who did he think he was?

The trio stopped in front of one of the other plain wooden doors. The Director knocked twice then entered, just as Draco had done earlier.

"This is Agent 01-06's office. He's been around long enough that this is about all he still has to do." Ginny thought the Director was saying this in a joking manner, but couldn't be sure. There was something off about him.

The Director waited for Ginny and Draco to enter, then exited the room and closed the door.

"Was he serious?" she asked Draco once they were alone again.

"No. Agent 01-06 is head of the agency's personal hospital."

Right then another man came striding quickly out of a side door. He came to stand near them. He was over six feet tall and very thin, almost emaciated. He had straight, black hair, black eyes behind square wire-rimmed glasses, and an olive complexion. He gave them an empty smile.

Hey, empty smiles all around today, Ginny thought. What is wrong with these people?

"Ah, Agent 02-23. Nice to see you so well again," he shook Draco's hand. "And you are…"

He held out his hand to Ginny.

"Agent 07-16," she said, gripping him tightly.

"It's been awhile since a woman passed through those doors," the man said almost wistfully and definitely oddly. Ginny's eyebrows shot up. Was he talking about for the Crest, or what?

Snapping back to the present, he led her over to a couch next to a wall. It had a small table sitting next to it with various first-aid supplies on it.

"If you would bare your right hip, please. You should try and get comfortable, because this may hurt."

Translation: hold on, because this is gonna sting like H – E – Double hockey sticks. That was okay with her though, she had always been good with pain. At least, that's what she liked to think.

Ginny giggled at her own humor, and Draco eyed her oddly. She unbuttoned and unzipped her pants just enough so that they could slide down and show her hip, and kind of half-laid, half-sat on the couch.

"Ready?" Agent 01-06 asked, taking out his wand. Before she could say anything or nod, he was murmuring the spell and pointing at her hip.

There was a moment of brilliant white pain that burst over her, like a little, hot pokers sizzling against her skin, then the feeling died down to a heated simmer. It was like getting a tattoo where all the needle pricks hit you at once.

She looked down at her newly marred hip. There was a little trickle of blood and the skin around the black was red. The Light Crest, ironically, was in the shape of a very small sun with sharp little rays. The whole thing was about the size of the pad of Ginny's thumb.

Ginny moved to sit up put a small burst of pain surprised her.

"Hold still." Agent 01-06 commanded. From the table next to the couch he picked up a small bottle of clear liquid and poured some of it over the tender wound. Ginny swallowed the pain. Then he took a small gauze square and taped it over.

"Thanks," Ginny said to both him and Draco as the latter offered her a hand. She gave another deep yawn.

"Go home. Get some sleep, or something more. One of us ought to," again Agent 01-06 had the far-off voice. Ginny ignored the 'or something more' part as she followed a once-again smirking Draco out of the building. Jeez.

The sky was just starting to turn that lighter blue of pre-dawn and Ginny could see the surrounding landscape. The building was sitting at the top of a high hill. But there was no grass, no vegetation of any kind. It was like a barren gray wasteland with a modern building in the middle of it.

"Come on. We can apparate back to my flat and get some sleep. Then, tomorrow, we can go and get whatever stuff you need from wherever," Draco held his hand out.

Ginny looked at it, almost said something about not needing his help, then decided she was too tired to get into it right now. Taking his hand, she let him lead her away.

* * *


	3. Chapter Two

Chapter Two

Ginny rolled over, rubbing the sleep from her eyes. And yelped when she felt a sharp pain on her hip. She groaned.

She had forgotten, for a blissful while, what had happened. But now it all came flooding back to her. The Spooks. The no-name secret agency. 02-23. 07-16. The Crest. Draco Malfoy.

She shot straight up in bed, once again feeling the Crest. Ouch. She was in his apartment. Sleeping in a bed he owned. In a pair of his borrowed pajamas.

The sheets huddled around her were silver silk that shined in the sunlight. Looking over at a bedside clock, it read 2:52 p.m. She slid out of the bed and padded over to a full-length mirror sitting in a corner.

They had arrived at Draco's home that morning at close to 6 a.m. She had been so tired that she hadn't taken the time to look around at the place or notice what he had given her to wear to sleep in. Now, almost nine hours later, she stood staring at her reflection thinking that she looked like a Christmas ornament.

Her short, chin-length red curls bounced innocently around her face while a set of forest green silk pajamas clung to her body. Merlin, she hated silk. The pants were too long and baggy, as was the shirt. In fact, the last three buttons of the long-sleeved button-up were undone.

Green and red. Jeez.

She would have changed back into the clothes she was wearing last night, but she couldn't find them. They were gone from the floor where they had previously been strewn. Ginny walked out of her new bedroom and down the hall to where she thought she remembered the kitchen and living room being.

When she entered the kitchen, she found Draco already there, already dressed. He had on black slacks with polished black shoes and a white button up shirt. The sleeves were rolled up to just below his elbows and the top two buttons were undone, showing some of his chest. His mid-back length hair swung in a low ponytail, shorter bits of it falling around his face as he leaned over a newspaper.

He looked like he was concentrating awfully hard.

Ginny, being the brilliant person she was, opened her mouth and said, "Where are my clothes?"

If that won't get a guy's attention, nothing will.

Draco looked up, eyes wide with a deer-in-headlights look. "W-what?"

Ginny blushed, then frowned, realizing the stupidity of what she had said. But she repeated it anyways. "Where are my clothes?"

After a stunned moment, Draco pulled himself together. "They're being cleaned. They should be done shortly."

"Oh." A short pause.

"Where can I find a coffee cup?" she asked as she noticed a coffee pot sitting on the counter.

"The cabinet above and to the right of the sink." He jerked his thumb over his shoulder.

He watched as she made her way around him where he was sitting to the cabinet behind him. He had to admit to himself, she looked good in his clothes. That was always something he liked – seeing a girl in his clothes. The shirt was too long for her, so the bottom three buttons were undone. What she didn't realize was that every time she moved, her well-toned stomach showed in the gap.

Then she raised up to get a coffee cup, showing most her midriff.

He smirked.

She turned around and smoothed the shirt down, ignoring the sharp little stabs in her hip. And froze when she saw the look on his face.

"_What?" _she said, obviously not pleased.

The smirk widened.

"Nothing," he said, returning his gaze to the newspaper and brushing some of the hair out of his face.

She got her black coffee and sat down opposite him at the round kitchen table. He sighed and folded the paper back up, once again looking at her.

"I had a meeting with the Director this morning. We didn't want to wake you, it being so soon and all. He didn't expect to have an assignment for us already."

She just looked at him.

"We both agreed that, since we're living together and working together, we should put on the façade of dating. It would eliminate most uncomfortable questions. Do you have a problem with that?"

She just sat there, shocked. He was proposing that they fake-date? What was wrong with him? Although, they had been getting along rather nicely. He seemed less snobbish than their childhood days.

Ginny nodded, taking a scalding sip of her drink.

"Okay. Our cover story is that after you, you know, disappeared, you went to America. Sort of dropped off the face of the earth. I was visiting America for some unknown reason, and we happened to run in to each other. We hit it off after a few scathing remarks, and you decided to move in with me. Okay?"

"Why were you visiting America for an unknown reason?"

Draco's face became a careful mask where before it had been almost amiable. "Most people are convinced that I am on the Dark Lord's side. An 'unknown reason' would fit in perfectly with this."

"Well, how do you explain us 'hitting it off'?"

Very, very careful face. "After your disappearing act…Ginny, most people thought you went off the deep end and turned to the Dark. They couldn't accept that you could just quit."

Ginny's face darkened, and she looked down at the swirling black. She tried to squelch the anger that was threatening to burst over the edge. Her decisions were none of the wizarding world's damn business.

"Oh," she managed to squeak.

"Why are you on the Light?" she asked suddenly.

It was Draco's turn to go all angsty.

He only said two words. "My father."

It was apparent to Ginny that that was the end of that topic.

She threw back the last of her coffee and stood up.

"Shower?" she asked.

"Please do," he said.

She gave him a cutting look. _"Where?" _

Draco ignored the look. "The door across from yours. There's some salve to help ease any discomfort in your hip you might be feeling. There should also be a robe in there that you can wear if your clothes have not arrived by the time you're done."

Ginny walked down the hall and stopped by the door Draco had mentioned. She turned the handle and pushed the door open. She swept her eyes over the entire room quickly in a controlled expertise kind of way from years of being a killer. She was used to being an observer, and old habits die hard.

The bathroom was beautiful, glowing golden with the afternoon sun peaking through the high windows. It was smaller than she would have thought Draco capable of owning. The whole room seemed to be done in off-white marble, making the sunlight even more prominent.

She looked through the clear glass door to the two-person shower and noticed that there was no soap of any kind. After making her soap selections from under the sink and finding the white robe, she started her shower.

God, she hated these doors. She stood under the torrid water and watched her reflection in the mirror across from her. It was disconcerting, because she couldn't hide from herself. She was forced to see herself as she really was…an empty shell. Her solemn eyes looked out and across to their empty-looking doubles. No feelings, no remorse about what she did for a living.

Ginny stood like that until the glass doors fogged up and she could no longer see herself. She sighed, coming out of her daze.

She cleaned herself up, changed the patch on her hip, and slipped into the fluffy white robe. She then opened the door and peered tentatively out into the hall. She stepped out as Draco was coming from the end of the hall that she hadn't been down.

He stopped when he saw her. He looked at her for a moment with an expression she couldn't place before speaking.

"The assignment that the Director had for us this morning was simple. I don't know why he gave it to us," he looked off for a moment in deep thought. "Maybe it's a multi-staged mission. Anyway, we're supposed to meet someone for dinner at a classy, high dollar place. At 5:30. It's 4:00 right now. Since you're not going to have time to collect something from your many apartments, I took the liberty of having a house elf bring you a dress, shoes, and make-up. They're in your room."

"Thanks," Ginny said, clutching the robe at the base of her neck. "What are we supposed to be meeting this person for?"

"We're meeting a Mr. Harman and his wife. He is supposedly a major dark artifact dealer. I will pose as a young prospective client and you will pose as my snotty, high maintenance girlfriend."

"Okay," she said, nodding.

He nodded back and continued past her down the hallway. Draco called back to her, "Try to be ready by five."

She went into her new room, closed the door, and faced the bed. Lying on it was a simple black tea length dress with strappy stilettos. Lying next to the dress was a lush black satin cloak and a small bag that Ginny supposed make-up was in.

One hour. Ginny sighed and began to get ready.

* * *

a/n) I meant for this to be posted a looooong time ago, and for this chapter to be much longer. But my computer went psycho and decided not to let me open Word on it ever again. Pissed me off soooo bad. So I've had to fight with my Mom for control of the "family computer."

Spring break is next week, so I hope to update this and my other story again. I have to completely read through both of them to get the feel and the storyline back in my head. Keep reviewing!

Yours truly,

Peanut Butter


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